Political Corruption Essays

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What is Political Corruption?

Today, corruption is trumpeted at all angles, blamed for all troubles and failures, and also consider it their duty to complain about careless officials, who are often bribe-takers. Everyone knows that this is the worst enemy of the country’s social well-being and economic development, but the most paradoxical thing is that no one really strives to fight political corruption.

Although everyone knows what the term “political corruption” means, few people know that this problem is as old as the world. You may be surprised, as students who researched this topic in their political corruption essays found the evidence that even in primitive societies, it was customary to make offerings to leaders or priests in order to gain their favor. Then a logical question arises – if political corruption exists in the world exactly as long as people live on this earth, then perhaps political corruption is an integral part of the existence of any human society?

It sounds logical, but how then to explain that there are countries in which there is no political corruption? Of course, it is very easy and convenient to blame someone for everything, but arguing with facts is very difficult.

Definition of the Term

Surely you know perfectly well what this concept is. Basically, it is understood as the use of official positions for the purpose of obtaining personal gain. As a rule, this concept is identified with the concept of “bribery”. However, it should be noted that the meaning of the word “political corruption” is not limited to this. The word corruption translated from Latin means “political corruption”.

Political corruption has many manifestations: venality; misappropriation of goods, services, and assets (including money); nepotism, etc. Moreover, it exists not only in the civil service but also in the private sector.

The key feature of this phenomenon is precisely the conflict of interests of an official and his employer, that is, an enterprise, society, state, etc. The main factor that determines the existence of political corruption is precisely the possibility of obtaining some kind of benefit (not necessarily material), and the key deterrent factor, in this case, is the possibility of being punished for the deed. Other factors that determine the possibility of political corruption are legal skepticism, the legal illiteracy of citizens, and a low level of civic consciousness.

According to any political corruption essay, this phenomenon is a social phenomenon, and this implies the involvement of two parties in this process. One party provides the other with some kind of benefit in exchange for the satisfaction of its interests, as well as the opportunity to abuse the official position of the other party. And the second party, in turn, acts as the recipient of this benefit and fulfills the requirements of the first party. This may include the performance/non-performance of their official duties, the provision of any information, etc.

Types and Forms of Corruption in Politics:

The concept of political corruption is incredibly multifaceted, therefore, depending on certain parameters, several main types can be distinguished:

Depending on the area of ​​manifestation corruption is:

• administrative and as its kind every day;
• business;
• political.

Depending on the form of the pursued benefit:

• bribe;
• mutually beneficial exchange of courtesies (patronage, nepotism).

Depending on the level of distribution:

• grassroots (individual);
• vertex (institutional);
• international.

Depending on the manifestation, the following main forms of corruption are distinguished:

• corrupt practices;
• abuse of their position and power;
• trade in inside information;
• nepotism/patronage/favoritism;
• lobbying;
• embezzlement;
• misuse of funds.

The topic of political corruption is a complex one, and it is difficult for many students to write a good political corruption essay. Therefore, to make this topic a little bit clearer, below you can find a video describing political corruption examples in different countries: